


Promises

by Sandylee007



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 10:01:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16083827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandylee007/pseuds/Sandylee007
Summary: A few months after 'Homecoming', Peter Parker comes to Tony Stark when he's injured on patrol. While trying to save the kid's life Tony makes promises he's determined to keep.               PREVIOUSLY POSTED BY ME ON FANFICTION.NET





	Promises

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Hazardous Life of Peter Parker (aka AFNSM)](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/419531) by Sandylee007. 



> Peter Parker is quickly becoming my second favorite-Marvel-character. SOOOO, here we are. (grins)  
> DISCLAIMER: I own ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Just borrowing these lovely characters a bit.  
> WARNINGS: A couple of swear words (I mean, Tony IS in this fic...), mentions of injury... For my fic, that's a REALLY short list. (grins)  
> Okay, then. I REALLY hope that you'll enjoy the ride!

That whole day Tony had a feeling that he was forgetting something important. Or perhaps that something was badly wrong. He went to a meeting that nearly bored him to tears, then started tinkering on three projects at the same time. Yet the crawling under his skin didn't go anywhere. (Much later it occurred to him that perhaps he was developing spider-senses of his own.)

Then, finally, he received an unpleasant answer when the emergency signal of Peter's suit was activated.

Tony wondered briefly if what he experienced right then was how it felt to have a heart attack. He swallowed thickly despite his mouth being painfully dry while his blood ran cold. "Track down the signal", he commanded in a choked tone he didn't recognize.

It simultaneously broke his heart and brought a splash of warmth to learn that Peter was almost right outside his new city center office building. Whatever bad had happened… Peter trusted him enough to come to him for help. And he had every intention to be worthy of that trust.

The street outside the building was infuriatingly busy. Tony looked around frantically, until it occurred to him to check a tiny alley nearby. He frowned and squinted into the shadows, his stomach twisting and turning from the kind of worry he wasn't sure he could handle.

He thought he was at the wrong place. Until all of a sudden, startling him, a tiny voice came from behind a massive trashcan. "Mr. Stark?"

Tony was running like a mad person before he made a conscious decision to do so. What he found made his eyes widen and brought him so damned close to losing it that it wasn't even funny. "Jesus, kid…!" he sputtered.

He imagined that the liquid on the ground was rainwater, since it'd been raining cats and dogs most of the day. Until he took in the color and sickening stench. In the middle of the puddle, huddled against the trashcan, was Peter. The boy, who had the mask-part of his suit clutched in a trembling hand, looked back at him with dazed, pained eyes. The teenager had brought his legs to his chest but the amount of red and the pallor of his face were enough to reveal that the hidden injury was bad. Peter was trembling miserably. "I… I couldn't go to a hospital… They, ah…" The teenager mewed from pain when trying to shift. "They'd take blood samples… Or see the healing a-ability…" Peter's eyes welled up from pain and sheer terror, and the desperate, terrified look on the boy's face was a painful reminder of how young he was. "I… I didn't know where… e-else to go…"

Finally Tony's brain kicked into gear. He dashed to the boy and tried to be the calm, comforting person he seriously wasn't. "You did the right thing. Okay, Pete? I'm gonna get you some help. But first I need to see."

Peter nodded, fighting hard to maintain a brave face. Slowly and visibly reluctantly the boy lowered first one leg, then another. Which revealed the teenager's second, blood-soaked hand, which was pressed desperately against the boy's stomach. It took all Tony had not to throw up or have a panic-attack.

Oh, no, no, no, no…! SHIT…!

Seeing his poorly disguised horror, Peter began to panic more as well. The boy's rapid gasps of breath wheezed unhealthily. "It's… It's bad, huh?"

The boy crying out when Tony began to apply pressure to stem the bleeding was definitely one of the most horrible sounds the billionaire had ever heard. The new shockwave of agony seemed to be almost too much. Something deep inside Tony jolted when the kid's eyes began to slip closed. "Hey, hey, HEY!" He sounded every bit as frantic as he felt. And wasn't even embarrassed to admit it. "Pete, eyes open! Keep looking at me. Tell me how the hell you got into this mess."

Peter's trembling began to subside while the teenager fought valiantly to comply. "It… There were…" The boy's eyebrows furrowed. "My senses, they tingled… But… They had too many guns…"

Tony shuddered and felt sick. "Who did?" The boy didn't seem coherent enough to respond to something so complicated. The pool of red kept growing at a horrible pace. Peter was slipping away, and Tony… He had no idea how to keep it from happening, when his hand was already slick and slipping from the wound. Despair clawing at him like knives, he wrapped his free arm around the teenager, pulled the boy closer. It made him look back on the hug he once rejected. What he would've given, to be able to go back in time… Tony blinked furiously when his eyes blurred and focused firmly to not think about why they did so. "Kid, you've gotta stay with me, alright? Because… Because I've got a medical team. And they'll fix you right up. So stay with me. Stay awake. Keep talking." It scared him, more than anything, how quiet the usually bubbly kid was.

"Hmmh", was all Peter managed to offer as a response, eyelids drooping and nearly closing.

Unable to bear the silence any longer Tony babbled on. His arm tightened around the teenager without him noticing it. As a response Peter leaned his exhausted head against his shoulder, damp hair sticking to all directions and tickling the man's chin. (The billionaire had no idea of the couple of tears that rolled down his cheeks.) "You'll be okay", he swore. Or perhaps begged. "And then your ridiculously hot aunt is gonna scream at you so bad for this. So am I, for the record. And the next suit I'll make you… It'll be bulletproof. And it'll be the most amazing suit you've ever seen. Maybe I'll even add spider legs."

"Sounds cool", Peter murmured barely audibly.

"It will be", Tony affirmed firmly. He didn't like how choked he sounded and felt. "So stick around to see it, kid."

They both tensed up when steps approached. Tony almost managed to breathe easily when he recognized his scientific research team, which was finally responding to the emergency signal he gave as soon as he received Peter's.

About time…!, he seethed internally, intense worry giving frustration sharp edges.

He didn't notice that he'd moved marginally until the boy in his arms reacted. "Mr. Stark…" The tears Peter had been fighting back began to roll. The boy seemed heartbreakingly young (because he was) and terrified. It occurred to Tony a moment later why, and the realization chilled him to the bone. Peter was scared that he'd die right there, and that if Tony left he'd be all alone when… "'on't go."

"I won't", Tony reassured the boy. "Help's here, okay? They'll start working on you soon. But I'll stay right here, too. I'm not leaving you." It felt like the most important promise he'd ever given anyone, and its weight brought moisture to his own eyes. "And I'm not letting you go, either. You hear me? Neither of us is going anywhere." Even the thought of losing this kid… It hurt so much that it was ridiculous.

His promise soothed a tiny hint of Peter's fears. The boy's eyelids began to flutter. And this time no amount of coaxing, pleading and threats from Tony was enough to keep them open. In a matter of seconds Peter fell completely limp in his arms.

"Pete, stay awake!" There was no reaction. "PETER!"

/

Peter managed to crawl his way close to awareness a few times.

The first time he did… it felt like he was flying flying. Where was he? What was going on? Soon he didn't care enough to wonder. Because there was a large, comforting hand stroking his hair. "Dad?" he mumbled, confused. The hand froze for a second, then continued the motions. Peter slipped back into the dark.

The second time was far more unpleasant. He was in pain, a lot of it. There were hands on him. What were they doing? Why were they hurting him?

"… waking up…! … more sedative, now!"

Something warm coursed through his veins soon. It felt almost as good as the hand squeezing his. Peter drifted away again.

The third time he was slightly more coherent. At first he started upon realizing that there was someone sitting beside him, but calmed down when he reminded himself that his spider-senses would've warned him of a threat. Curious and stubborn to a fault, he wrestled his eyes open.

Tony seemed tired and pale. But still smiled in a way he'd never seen before upon noticing that he was awake. "Welcome back, kid." The man ruffled his hair and the boy leaned eagerly to the touch. "Don't worry, I'll save yelling for later. And May just fell asleep so she won't do any yelling yet, either. Get some more rest."

Tony was there. Just like he promised. Everything would be okay. The realization was enough to soothe Peter into a dreamless sleep.

/

Staring at the calmly sleeping teenager, Tony breathed properly for the first time in… three days, six hours, forty-five minutes and eleven seconds. Because that was how long the road to this point had been, despite Peter's healing abilities.

Anyone else would've died of the kind of injury Peter received. Because the damage the bullet did… It was catastrophic. And a couple of times the boy's great, big heart nearly gave in. Which led to a panic-attack, one Tony wasn't admitting to anyone else but Pepper, who helped him through it. For far too long it was uncertain if Peter would be strong enough to pull through. Judging by the facial expressions of the medical team's members, they were betting on a negative outcome. Of course the teenager who'd already defied so many odds and expectations, who'd been misjudged so many times, gave them a surprise.

Telling May what had happened was almost as bad as watching Peter fighting for his life. The previous time they talked was almost right after she discovered the teenager's secret. Back then she told him, in no uncertain terms, how she felt about the enemies and battles he brought to the boy's life. And that she planned on doing everything under her power to keep Peter safe, to erase all potential risk factors from the boy's life. Including Tony, wasn't spoken out loud but was fairly clear. Which didn't stop Tony from keeping an eye on Peter, because he promised to be a better mentor. And unlike May he knew that Spider-Man couldn't be taken away from the kid quite so easily. (They were far too similar in their bone-headedness.) Maybe, if he did a better job… If he developed a better suit…

Wasn't him keeping a closer eye on Peter supposed to keep crap like this from happening…?

May… wasn't his biggest fan. When she stormed to the building's medical area Tony braced himself for a punch. Instead she wrapped her arms around him and broke down to loud, wrenching sobs. That hurt almost more than getting hit.

They waited for Peter to recover together. Because Tony made a promise, and he'd be damned if he didn't stick to it, if he failed the kid again. He had no idea why May allowed him anywhere near the boy but wasn't about to question it. Maybe she just felt sorry for him.

They hadn't really talked until right now, after having seen Peter awake. Mainly because they'd dreaded with baited breaths that something might go wrong again. Having imagined that she was asleep, Tony jumped when May spoke quietly. "I'm still mad at you. But this… It's not on you. I… I seriously thought that he wasn't doing this anymore. That he listened to me. I'm such an idiot…!" She wiped her eyes. "These patrols… Neither of us would be able to keep him from going to them, because they're something he feels he needs to do. I finally get it now. He… He would've gotten hurt, anyway. And…" Their eyes met, hers moist all over again. "This… This is the second time you've saved his life. You have no idea how grateful I am, that… that he has someone who can help. Because… Without you I… I'd have to bury him, too." The pain of uttering those words was palpable.

Tony frowned. "What do you mean, second time?"

May stared at him for a moment. "Do you remember that child you saved at the Expo, years ago? It was Peter." One corner of her lips twitched. "And… That wasn't your fault, either. I'm telling you this, because I already have one kid in my life who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. A second one would be too much of a headache." She shrugged at his shock. "Like I said, I'm still mad at you. But I won't keep you away from him. Because he's been Spider-Manning behind my back twice, now, and you're the one he's decided to come to when he needs help. So I can either succumb to the insanity or embrace it."

Tony, struck speechless for once in his life, nodded slowly. It took ages before he found some of his voice. "We'll… yell at him together. When he's doing better", he decided, eyes on the sleeping teenager once more. It came way too close this time, and even thinking that something like this might happen again… The possibility that a child might die before him… It was more than he could or wanted to handle. At some point the damned kid had wormed way too deep under his skin.

He sensed May's answering nod despite looking, and for a while a companionable silence lingered while the two of them just breathed.

"And Tony?" May smiled. It was tiny and frail, and made the worry-lines on her face even more visible. But it was genuine. "That look on your face right now, when you watch him… Welcome to parenthood."

Tony didn't have the slightest clue what she meant. He decided that figuring it out could wait until later. Right now he'd focus on making sure that Peter recovered properly. Then they'd work on developing a suit that wouldn't let some idiot's bullets almost kill the kid.

He was never, ever going to have the kid nearly dying in his arms again, if he could help it.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaw! Aren't those two adorable? (smiles fondly)  
> Sooooo... How was that? Any good at all? PLEASE, do let me know!  
> In any case... Thank you so much for reading!  
> Take care!


End file.
